[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Item for 2/21/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

February 21, 2008

 

1.  Top Item

 

Neighbors welcome levee work, lament loss of trees

Sacramento Bee – 2/21/08

By Matt Wesier, staff writer

 

Work on one of the most vulnerable levees on the American River will start as soon as next week.

 

The long-awaited project is welcome, but it's a mixed blessing for those in the neighborhood who could not save several major trees that must be felled or moved in the process.

 

The Mayhew levee, as it is known, protects about 300 homes in the Butterfield-Riviera East neighborhood in Sacramento's Rosemont area. The 4,300-foot-long levee was built decades ago by the neighborhood's developer. It's never been federally certified.

 

The levee is not tall enough to contain a 100-year flood, which has a 1 percent chance of striking in any given year. Only the immediate neighborhood would flood in such a storm.

 

A bigger storm could overwhelm the neighborhood and flood more of Sacramento.

 

The $9.5 million project will raise the levee 3 feet and install a slurry wall up to 60 feet deep to prevent underseepage.

 

"Nowhere else in the American River system do we need to raise the levee that much," said Pete Ghelfi, director of engineering at the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency.

 

The levee's deficiencies have been known for decades, and repairs were federally approved in 1999.

 

The design also requires the levee to be widened as much as 30 feet, narrowing the natural parkway enjoyed by residents and requiring thousands of trees and shrubs to be removed. Some trees may be transplanted to locations away from the levee. Among them are three heritage oaks more than 100 years old.

 

A group of residents fought for a narrower levee design that would save the trees and minimize American River Parkway disruptions.

 

In 2006 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rejected alternatives and approved a standard levee design instead, ruling that nothing else would provide adequate flood protection.

 

"I'm sorry they couldn't do a little more to save more of the parkway and trees," said resident Joe O'Connor, who fought to minimize the project's impact. "But I am happy the neighborhood is going to get the flood protection that it needs."

 

The project will start as soon as next week with tree and shrub removal. Then it will continue through the end of the year to remove the existing levee, pour the slurry wall underground and build up the new levee.

 

The Mayhew drain also will be modified to prevent the American River from backing up into urban areas during floods.

 

Neighborhood residents will endure months of disruption from the project, including reduced access to the river and parkway, construction traffic, noise and dust. But most are glad to see better flood protection finally coming.

 

Matt Mason's home backs up to the levee. He is concerned that his two young children will have less opportunity to play outdoors during construction.

 

"I think it's going to be a pain," he said. "But for the safety that it provides, a little inconvenience is sometimes necessary. I'm ecstatic, actually, that it's happening."

 

The new levee will be able to contain a river flow of 160,000 cubic feet per second. That is somewhat more than a 100-year flood and consistent with other levees on the river.

 

Also, neighborhood residents will no longer will be required to purchase flood insurance. Instead, they'll be eligible for cheaper "preferred risk" polices, which are recommended for virtually every neighborhood in Sacramento regardless of flood risk. #

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/727707.html

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